Blogging slump...

My Mother pointed out that I haven't blogged lately, so here I am.

But I just don't have anything to talk about. We're in the house, and it's wonderful. Pat has been working so hard on his limited time off to keep the lawn and gardens looking nice. Me? I can't see why anyone would get pleasure out of gardening. It's just not my thing.

However, I do want one of these:

I've certainly hinted around it enough with Pat so I'm hoping one shows up next week for my birthday. I have so many things I want to make, mostly homemade salsa! I love, love, love good salsa.

Today is actually our eight month anniversary and also our third month living in our house!

So that's pretty much it. I haven't been cooking too much because I get home too late and Pat has been working a lot of nights. I have been baking some - turns out my homemade brownies are a hit! Thanks for the recipe, Mom!

This weekend we may be having my coworkers up for a game night. No plans have been finalized yet though, so we'll see!

Remembering Maddie

You may notice the new badge to the left. This is Madeline Spohr, and she has touched me.

Sadly, I first learned of Maddie after her death. My high school friend posted a status update on facebook that one of her good friends had just lost their daughter. I followed the links to the blogs of her parents that loved their little girl more than anything in this world.

My heart breaks for them as I can't imagine anything worse than losing a child.

If you click on the badge it will bring you to Maddie's mother's blog. There are stories, pictures and videos of this precious angel. But be warned, your heart will break.

Emergency Aid Delayed...

My favorite morning show (The Free Beer and How Wings show) talked about this ridiculous story this morning. I was outraged.

The story is linked here, but in case you don't want to read it, here is a summary (video also posted below, with the actual call).

This poor 17 year old girl is watching her father have a seizure on the floor, just THREE weeks after having brain surgery. What is she supposed to do? Call 911. What are they supposed to do? Help her.

After ringing and ringing with no answer, she hangs up and calls back. It rings and rings and before the person picks up the phone she says "What the F***". Keep in mind, this is before the officer answered the phone.

He proceeds to flip out at her for swearing, hangs up on her and doesn't dispatch anyone for six minutes. He never finds out what the emergency is.

She shows up at the police station and he arrests her.

Ok, I am flipping out. When you are faced with an emergency OF COURSE you are freaking out. You're 17 and watching your sick father have a seizure and nobody answers 911.

I have family in the public safety field, as most of you know. My sister is a 911 dispatcher and my husband is a paramedic. NEVER would they act like this. This is just plain crazy.

Was she perfect? No. But was the officer ridiculous? Yes.

End result - the father is ok and the officer got a two week supsension. That's it.

Here is the news story about it:

Baked Stuffed Haddock

Do you know how great it is living close to your parents? Well, if you have awesome parents like mine...it's pretty great.

Last week Mom & Dad made this amazing haddock with crab meat stuffing and Mom dropped some off for Pat and I. It was delicious. They seriously made the stuffing with a pound of crab meat. Yum!

She even dropped off the potatoes for us. She's so great.

In other news, we had some friends over this weekend to help us with some yard work. There was this stump I wanted up righted and some more trees to cut down. So Mitchell & Phil made their way down from Fryeburg to help us out. We spent our evening sitting around our fire pit table enjoying some burgers and beers. What a great weekend.

The boys up righting the stump:

That's the huge brush pile we hope to burn soon if we ever get some rain.

Our backyard with the two leaning birch trees gone:

The front yard with the Daffodils up:

Random Picture Post

Bacon, Eggs & Hashbrowns cooking Saturday morning:

Yum - I like my hasbrowns with cajun seasoning:

Pat making me breakfast before work:

Flipping the ployes!

Yummy ployes:

Stryker's favorite place in the kitchen:

Our new patio set - it's a fire pit!

Stryker waits here for me in the morning (upstairs hallway)

Stryker was "helping" Pat with some work:

Easy Beef Stroganoff!

Growing up, beef stroganoff was one of my favorite meals. My Mom makes it the "right" way.

I cheated.

I starred this recipe from a blog I read months ago and just never got around to making it (like the million other recipes I have starred).

Anyway, it was very easy and very good. The best part? It makes a ton so we have enough for lunches tomorrow! It was also very quick to prepare, which is a MUST for me if I'm cooking after work.

We both really enjoyed it and we will definitely make it again. The only changes I made were using fat free sour cream and "no yolk" egg noodles (which are 99% fat free). All in all it was a pretty healthy meal!

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

First, I need a large rectangle serving platter.

Second, I should work on taking better pictures.

Third, this cake is fabulous. Make it.

I've never made a cake from scratch before and I was a little intimidated! However, this recipe was so easy and it didn't take very long. A better baker than me could have been done in probably half the time I took to do it. I don't multi-task well in the kitchen. Yet!

I found the recipe here: http://www.frontiercoop.com/store.php?Screen=recipe&recipe=967

I would make sure to use the FULL cup of pineapple juice (and maybe a little extra) in the cake batter. I was a smidgen under, so next time I'll use more. I will also butter the baking dish, even though it doesn't say to. I think it will help the brown sugar and butter mixture release easier.

I brought the cake in to work today and so far I've gotten rave reviews. I am anxious for my family to try it on Easter Sunday. I hope you enjoy it!